Colorado @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 30, 2010 ) Colorado 2, San Francisco 1
The Colorado Rockies look to continue their recent flurry of wins and the San Francisco Giants hope to halt a sudden downward spiral when the teams meet Tuesday night in the second contest of a three-game series.
The Rockies were opportunistic thieves in Monday's series opener by scoring twice in the ninth for a 2-1 victory. It was Colorado’s seventh win in its last eight games.
Meanwhile, the devastating defeat was San Francisco’s fourth in five games. The Giants’ swoon comes at a horrible time since the NL West-leading San Diego Padres have lost five consecutive contests.
San Francisco, which trails San Diego by five games in the division, also failed to take advantage of the Philadelphia Phillies' loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. The Giants are 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies in the chase for the wild card.
Colorado tied the game on Carlos Gonzalez’s triple and the slugger was awarded home when an errant relay throw by Freddy Sanchez bounced into the stands. The heroic rally bumps the Rockies to within two games of San Francisco and 3 1/2 of the Phillies.
The Rockies got it done Monday night without the left side of their infield. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki didn’t play after injuring his left groin on Sunday and third baseman Ian Stewart (oblique) was placed on the disabled list.
Tulowitzki, who has a 10-game hitting streak, was replaced by Clint Barmes, who was activated from the bereavement list to replace Stewart on the roster. Melvin Mora played third base on Monday.
Colorado attempts to make it two straight wins in the series against Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner.
The Rockies roughed up Bumgarner in Colorado on Aug. 4 with four runs and nine hits in four innings. Bumgarner is 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA in two career starts against the Rockies.
Bumgarner was torched by the Cincinnati Reds in his last start, giving up eight runs – seven earned – and seven hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Overall, Bumgarner is 5-4 with a 3.95 ERA in 12 starts this season.
Esmil Rogers makes his seventh start of the year for the Rockies.
Rogers also is coming off a poor outing in which he gave up seven runs and eight hits in 1 2/3 innings against the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves. He ended up with a no-decision as Colorado overcame a 10-1 deficit to notch an improbable 12-10 victory.
Rogers (2-2, 5.66 ERA) is 0-1 in two career appearances against San Francisco.
Giants catcher Buster Posey (elbow) returned to action on Monday and drove in San Francisco’s only run.